For a festival searching for its niche in the wide world of music events, What The Festival?! 2012 was a pretty stellar debut.

In fact, the first WTF?! was so smoothly run and seamlessly organized that the entire experience oddly resembled a spa vacation—one with constant electro raging in the background. And next year, it’ll likely be twice as big due to the overwhelmingly positive reception from DJs and concertgoers alike.

Tucked away in White River Canyon, Oregon, the trek to the venue was a scenic hour and a half drive through winding forests, rivers, and, finally, high desert farmland. The consistently cleaned-up grounds and three well-placed stages were nestled intermittently in the canyon, surrounded by crags and bluffs that made for spectacular sunsets and a phenomenal sound system. And the remote location definitely lent itself to a sense of utter remove from civilization; the cell phone reception was slim-to-none, so contact with the outside world was (blissfully) difficult.

Concertgoers funneled in Friday afternoon to set up camp, explore the lay of the land, and quickly sink into the sounds of Portland’s own Mr. Wu on the Effin Stage and Tyler Tastemaker on the WTF?! Stage.

The crowd seemed to be an intriguing blend of hippy or hipster early twenty-somethings, though the overall demographic would be hard to convey in one sentence. This is likely due to the diverse array of activities WTF?! organizers had pumping from all corners of the sprawling venue.